Time Without Light
by ColubridCola
Summary: <html><head></head>Over two decades after Jack, Lili and their friends thought that they had vanquished The Lord of Darkness, a woman is captured. Contains blood, gore, disturbing themes, animal death and non-graphic sexual content. Please, R&R.</html>
1. Nightfall

**A/N**: This story takes place over two decades after Jack, Lili and the gang thought that they had dealt with The Lord of Darkness.  
>It features a female OC who I have only physically described in vague terms so that readers can imagine her in any way they want.<p>

Contains: Blood, gore, disturbing themes, animal death and non-graphic sexual content.

An explicit version is on AO3 under the same pseudonym.

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><p><em><strong>Time Without Light<strong>_

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><p>Before the great black tree, a figure waded through the wetlands. It was a woman who had made the trek to gather several carnivorous plants in order to sell them to the wood witches for coin. They were highly sought after and she knew where a small cluster grew midway through the bog.<p>

The woman was youthful and brawny built, her hair was silver-blue and it tumbled beyond the small of her back if she did not braid it up out of her eyes. Simply going by the moniker 'Daphne', she made her living by harvesting trade goods. Her home was in the forest near town where she set fruit and herbs out to dry, brewed sun teas, cured and smoked meat and pickled vegetables. The townsfolk may have done business with Daphne out of necessity, but to them anyone who was friend to the woodland spirits was trouble.

Daphne spotted the pitcher plants at the foot of a dead tree and tried to take a step toward it only to find that she was stuck fast in the mud. A large splash issued a few yards ahead which caused her to withdraw her short-sword but in the mist, she could only make out the hulking figure of some beast rising from the water, sputtering and growling. To her dismay, it began to move closer.

Trying not to make much noise, Daphne worked to pull her feet out of the muck, successfully freeing one with a tiny squelch. Ahead, the beast crouched and cocked it's horned head, crimson eyes blazing through the fog. "_A Minotaur?" _she thought, doubting her ability to slay such a creature. With relief, her other foot came loose and she turned about to look for some cover but was met by the beast itself, looming over her. How had it moved so quickly? Daphne gazed up at it's face, human in features, as plumes of steam escaped his nostrils.

And she ran. Ran for her life, further into the mire as the beast pursued.

"Yes, give chase! 'Tis welcome sport!" she heard him say with a roar of laughter. The woman struggled fervently to outrun him but she could hear the creature getting closer with each bound. A burning pain shot through her back as claws tore into her skin, knocking her face first into the dirt. She rolled over and thrust the short-sword into the horned being's side, causing him to howl in pain so loud that was sure she had struck a death-blow.  
>To her terror, he merely wrenched the blade out and cast it aside, cursing "Damnation!" and quickly clutched her neck. "Stung me good didn't you, little mosquito?! Matters not." Tightening his grip, blood and oxygen was cut off to Daphne's brain as she kicked and scratched. "I shall reward myself with a feast of your tender flesh!"<p>

When she finally lay limp, he released his grasp and examined her face, stroking the earth and peat away. The man-beast stooped over her, black as obsidian with the wine red horns of a bull, to run his giant hand over her form and sniff her clothes. Finding her appearance most agreeable, he hefted her to carry at his hip along a muskrat tied on his belt.


	2. Dawn

It took a few seconds to come back, blinking and breathing erratically. When she regained her sight, she saw above her was an ornate canopy of satin that cascaded and draped over either side of the immense bed she found herself in.

Cold night air came in through the grand, open windows and along with it had come dozens of dead leaves that scattered the ground. She sat up and felt the sharp pain in her neck, the hot moisture on her back and memories flooded her mind. That thing- that_ monster _was going to devour her.

Absently, Daphne took one of the many leaves carpeting the bed and crushed it between her fingers, peering around the large chamber. A polished, marble pillar adorned each corner with leaves piled at their bases. A long, elegant credenza stretched out against opposite wall below an unsettling painting of obscured, silhouetted beings amid a backdrop of fire and brimstone, framed in filigree. Cobwebs clung to the stucco work ceiling that hellishly depicted a sculptured sea of Stygian bodies that seemingly had sprouted from the top of the pillars and were crawling ever onward to a relief of the skeletal reaper, scythe poised and accompanied by a mural of a starry sky.

Deeply unnerved to have such a sight hanging over her, Daphne instead examined a smaller bay window far to the left of the bed and was startled badly by the creature, who had been observing her from the gloom behind a velvet curtain the whole time. "What a prize..." he smiled lasciviously, baring his fangs while speaking "the spoils of the hunt have wrought me," and arose.

The woman noticed his skin was red instead of the shining black it was earlier. "_S___atyr_?" _she pondered. He stood over eight feet high from hoof to horn. A tattered, subligaculum was his only attire.

"I am Darkness, The Lord of shadow and angel, fallen," Darkness bowed gracefully and came closer "Prey, goodly maiden...will you tell me your name?"

"Daphne" she told him quietly.

He snickered and began to pace "Stout laurel, are you also fond of the hunt?"

She was at a loss but answered " I-I've been known to fish"

At that, he guffawed insolently which made her frown.

"And have you taken a vow of chastity as well?"

"What?!" Daphne was disconcerted by such a prying question from an entity who resembled an incubus. The expression she wore amused him so much that he laughed again, making his way across the room to a towering set of doors, flinging them open dramatically before going out into a hall and turning briefly to glance at her indignant face before pulling the doors to behind him. She could hear the sound of his clopping grow quieter as he went away.

Daphne swung her legs over the side and got to her feet. With horror, she discovered that he had changed her clothes.  
>A cowl-necked dress hung from her sleeveless shoulders and trailed luxuriantly behind her, soot-black and shining like a puddle of crude oil. Something tight was squeezing her torso so she peeked down her cleavage to see a bodice and patted it's hard frame through the fabric. Chilly, gold anklets inset with quartz clinked as she walked to the great windows to stare out at the fen below. She was in the great tree, itself.<p>

Panicking a little, she ran to the pair of doors, cracking them open wide enough for her to slip through. Out in the hall, the glassy, stone passage seemed to stretch on for a mile in either direction and It was highly unlikely that he would have left her alone if there was some way that she could escape so she followed the path that she assumed he had taken, noting that fire light spilled from an aperture farther along the corridor, her bare feet slapping softly on the marble.  
>When Daphne looked in, she saw the giant faun kneeling over something in front of a large fireplace where flames danced.<p>

"Come closer," he beckoned over his shoulder after hearing her anklets, his deep voice echoing off of the high ceiling. She hesitantly entered and became aware of the thick smell of blood.

On the dinning table lay a partially skinned, young doe that was missing a leg. It was a recent kill and ungutted so the stench wasn't overpowering but it made Daphne a little nauseous.

The sound of hide peeling from muscle made her regard Darkness, who was pulling the membrane from the doe's ! leg effortlessly. She approached, standing a few feet away as he bit through sinew with his teeth instead of cutting it with a knife, smiling up at her genuinely before nudging a silver plate forward.

"Dine with me," he gestured for her to join him so she did, clumsily taking a seat on the icy ground close to him and wincing when her back grew taut. With a loud _'pop', _he ripped a bundle of muscles from the thigh and threw them on the plate, then tapped it with a nail. It was meant for her.

"A test of your mettle, I think. Until now, you have been courageous in my presence...Prove yourself to me. Are you bold enough to permit the temporary revocation of your 'humanity' by partaking of meat with blood still warm in it's veins?"

"Why should I do anything you ask of me? Had you not decided you spare my life, it could just as easily be me that you are butchering."

"The night is not over yet, my morsel" Darkness teased menacingly. "Indulge me."

Daphne didn't believe that he truly was a fallen angel. She was not unaccustomed to the brash and wicked ways of the fairies, goblins or more sinister characters the world had to offer or the lies that they told by nature. The Satyr, or Demon that sat before her was much more puissant and malicious than them but she did not frighten easily.

She bolstered her spirit, heaving a sigh and picked up one of the pieces of meat that was separated from the rest. It _was_ still luke warm and slippery but Daphne held onto it as tight as she could in both hands and bit into it, managing only to tear a small portion off with difficulty.

"My teeth are not sharp enough." she confessed, sloshing the meat about in her mouth. It didn't taste horrible but too much could have turned her stomach. Darkness tutted in mock clemency and said "Allow me to rectify this tragedy," with a grin.

Extending his finger, he painted two downward strokes in the air, mere inches from her mouth and relished in her surprised countenance.

Daphne's canines had grown into small fangs.

She ran her tongue over their sharp tips and seethed silently while looking into the fire for a few moments before she glared at him again. "Can you change them back?"

Darkness simply continued to gnaw on the deer's leg, not bothering to conceal how much he was entertained.


	3. Midday

A long period of silence passed between them as they ate. Daphne finished before him so she sat, listening to him masticate in minor disgust. It didn't take him long to consume pounds of meat and only when he was done did Darkness see it fit to speak, saying "What were you doing in my territory, might I inquire?"

"I wasn't aware that you've laid claim to the bog."

"It is mine, yes but have you not heard of the seals placed around the palace in which you stand? To keep all that lies dormant here from erupting once again."

Daphne was confused and was about to speak when he interrupted her in stern satisfaction "I see that you have not. A stranger to the recent history of this land. That is fine."

"I'm thrilled to gratify you," she replied caustically, to which he responded with a feral sneer.

"Good."

She was fascinated by his intensity but changed the subject, hoping he did not notice the curiosity in her visage. Her hopes were for naught.

"Are we alone, here?"

"Yes," Darkness answered and paused "With all of my servants and warriors gone, I have no choice but to venture forth under cover of night so that I might capture the Fae folk, snatch a bird from it's perch, pounce on the deer and scrounge for fish and frog. Though I am not quite mortal, I must sup. Rend flesh and snap bone to fill my belly."

She stood and wiped her hands on her dress, surveying the dining room behind her. Darkness pensively - almost reluctantly stated " My father no longer heeds my prayers. So long has it been since I've heard him offer guidance...yet my power remains. He has _must_ not have abandoned me."

Something thrummed in the atmosphere that gave Daphne goosebumps. The sensation of being watched by unseen eyes.  
>Out of the blue, a stray lock of her hair was tugged on the nape of her neck and she defensively whirled about, colliding with Darkness.<p>

"My sweet. Do not be so guarded. For now, you are not in any danger," he thought her circumspection and insubordinance somewhat endearing.

She found herself staring at his stomach, rising and falling so close to her bosom and His skin shone with perspiration, displaying the musculature beneath and the swollen gash that she had dealt him earlier. A whorl of down encircled his naval and trailed below the bandeau of his meager garb.

He didn't smell at all like what he had eaten, only sweat and a dank mustiness. It was very strange for her to have to look upward at him because Daphne was used to speaking with the shorter, forest dwellers.

Her study of his body had not gone unnoticed, she saw because he licked his teeth through a smug smile so she thought to begin another subject of discourse, regardless if she would not like the answer, "Why have you brought me here?"

"Because I wanted to."

She witheringly replied "I had gathered that," and rested her hands on her hips "But what do you want with me?"

"It was serendipitous that our paths crossed. I desire companionship, that is why I have ensnared you."

"Surely, there is someone more fitting a friend than I."

"I long for more than a 'friend'!" Darkness raised his voice in frustration, causing her to back away a foot or two. "I am damned, my dear. Oblivion is my fate. Do you not think it reasonable that I should want a lover to give me comfort while I still exist?" He made an effort to compose himself. "...Especially one as handsome as you."

"A lover?! "

"I mean precisely as I say." He was fuming again, panting through his flared nostrils while his yellow eyes burned with fury.

Daphne turned, clutching a bundle of fabric from her frock to her breasts. It was trepidation that filled her heart. She couldn't deny that she found him seductive but what price would she ultimately have to pay for giving herself to him? What if he really was a Demon?

"If I do not acquiesce, what then will you do?"

The crimson beast drew closer, bending to breath in her ear "Suffice to say...I would have your body. For my pleasure and my repast. With both appetites slaked, I would use your splintered ribs to clean my teeth." and clacked his ivories together ghoulishly.

She turned her head towards him boldly "I'd kill myself before if I were to suffer such a fate. I am not afraid to die."

Whether his forewarning was a lie told to convince her to surrender or a gruesome truth, she didn't care. Nobody would take her without her consent.

"Was it not fear that made you fight me so when I held your life in my grasp?"

"Just because a person is not afraid of something, it doesn't mean that they should yield to it."

"Ah," that rebuttal charmed him "Well said. But that means you possess something that even I lack...for I dread the inevitable destiny my end will bring...tell me, if you too were damned, would you not attempt to extract everything within your might from your pathetic existence?"

"Yes. But there are some crimes not even damnation could excuse." Daphne faced him resolutely and the potency of her statement silenced him in compunction for a moment.

Wistfully, he extended his hand to graze a finger over her lower lip "You are so fair, so valiant and I am so lonesome. It is within my capacity to be mild. Considerate. Generous," The midnight angel swept wisps of her plaited hair from her brow and lowly, intimately mentioned "It was not difficult to ascertain that you deem my form to be alluring."

Blinking, she broke eye contact and chastised herself for being so transparent.

"Is it so inconceivable to love one such as I?"

Daphne ruminated before meeting his amorous, heavy-lidded gaze again and something caught in her chest, her heart pounded "...I suppose it's not."

She was alarmed to have let that answer slip before he bowed to press his open lips to hers, gathering her in his arms. She found herself longing to hold him in turn but denied herself that luxury. His actions alone demonstrated that he was not worthy of any comfort that she could give him but nonetheless, Daphne coveted his touch.

She savored his tart, ink-tinged tongue as it invaded her mouth and she grasped the nape of his brawny neck while sucking his stained, plump lips but abruptly pulled herself away, leaving him winded and bemused.

When he made to reach out to her, she waved him off and told him"I want to be alone to think for a while."

Something crackled in the air. Something was wrong. She felt it in her bones, making her arm hair stand on end.

Daphne was prepared for an outburst. Instead, Darkness exhaled deeply and answered "Do as you wish."

She looked at him to see if he meant it, to which he nodded sullenly in response, allowing the silver-haired woman to pass by him and out to the hall once more.


	4. Dusk

Something stirred outside the doors.

Daphne had latched the windows shut to keep out any unwelcome guest but could not bolt the doors.

She had fallen into a shallow sleep after letting down her hair prior to the noise and could not relax so she quietly made her way to press her pointed, beringed ear to the gap in the entrance.

Her stomach lurched when she heard labored breathing on the other side, daring to catch a glimpse of the source.

There stood the massive "Satyr" just a few feet away, seemingly cogitative.

It wasn't until Daphne realized that he was naked that she had to stifle a gasp but Darkness could sense her fear.

Lightening quick, he set his piercing glare on her through the gap. His body was tense, dewy and unavoidably aroused. In all of the destitution and ardor, the hunger that he held, Darkness spoke her name.

She pressed with all of her might against the doors to keep him out but he battered them like a ram and the doors flung open, sending her stumbling to the ground where he picked her up from under the arms.

Daphne tried to punch him in the face to no avail, angrily screaming until she thought to sink her new fangs into his shoulder. He snarled, biting her upper arm with twice the ferociousness and she shrieked in pain before being tossed to the bed where he pinned her down.

"DO NOT FIGHT ME!" He boomed "You will not win."

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Aye, that I may be but not in all ways. If you cease this squirming and promise not to flee, I will release you."

They lay there for a moment to she tried to catch her breath, mulling over his words. His expression had calmed considerably and lecherous ferocity was replaced with inquisitiveness.

"I promise."

"And I shall hold you to that." Carefully, Darkness lifted himself off from her and chose to rest at her side, still clinging to her wounded arm.

"Let me make love to you, my fair maiden. Take pleasure in this, our coition?" Asked Darkness, running a finger along her cheek.

"But I do not want to be with child!"

"So you shan't be. I have no need of a whelp," he confessed before witnessing her disbelief, then added "Such things are not beyond my abilities."

"Trickery," Daphne contested "I know how dishonest the likes of you are, regardless if they be from earth or fell from heaven."

"VERACITY!" He hissed and tightened his grip on her bite wound "What use have I to tell a falsehood now? If I required offspring, I would enslave you! Mount you raw! But I do not want an urchin..." He began to calm himself. "I only desire a lover, have I made myself clear?"

She looked upon the Demon with enmity, yanking her arm loose and wanted so much to hit him.

"I see that I have" Darkness said softly, almost in self-reproach and held her hand. "Do not trouble yourself any further. Grant me remission for my temperament and allow me to whet your appetite."

"What makes you think that you're entitled to my love, after all you have done to me?!" Daphne yelled, leaving him speechless for a spell. Another chink in his armor.

"Love. Millenia have passed without it's warmth. Lust is timeless but love is ephemeral. Nephesh are ephemeral...," He became reflective, looking out into the gloom "One sin. The first and the greatest. To the mountain we were cast and shackled."

His eyes glazed over, slitted pupils constricting and the very sight of him was eerie enough that Daphne felt compelled to rouse him, taking his hand in hers. He sharply inhaled, returning from his trance with a weary smile "You'll have to make allowances, I fear and anchor me to this plane. I tend to wander."

She had no idea what he was talking about but she decided it would be wise to return to the subject of her original inquiry after nodding, her voice quiet "You cannot force love to grow. You're threats ar-"

"Empty threats" The demon interjected hastily, to which she scoffed, presenting him her arm and the bruises around her throat. "Yes, and these are just your tender administrations I see,"

He disregarded her stubbornly for a moment but what she had to say next had his full attention. "I'll not be abused for your entertainment!... and I understand that pain and pleasure can be interlaced in love but there are limits."

"I would give you such pleasure!" He made to embrace her but Daphne held his hands aloft "_You _will have to make allowances for me as well, hm? Revise one or more facets of your inherent disposition so that I may be comfortable in your company instead of be imprisoned by it. After all, I am expected to do the same, aren't I? Don't be so selfish."

When she began her request, Darkness wore a condescending smile, thinking she was too faint-hearted but it quickly faded as he likened her situation to that of his own. Confined within the seals, hiding from cruel sol.

"I will try."

She relinquished his hands, giving him free reign to feel the slope of her hip that was swathed in satin while he leaned into a kiss, rocking his jaw into hers.

She had buried her face in the concave of his zygomatic ridge, panting softly when she felt something oily along the pedicle leading to his horn and it smelled strong of musk. It almost became overwhelming. "Sit up" he whispered, not aware that she was a bit alarmed by the sebaceous discharge that anointed her cheek.

When she sat up, he followed and she raised her arms for him to lift off her dress which Darkness did quickly and immediately began to impatiently unlace what kept her warmth from him. When he yanked it off from her torso, he saw her full breasts drop prettily.

"What riches nature has blessed you with."

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><p>She was worn out but he was even more so, collapsing to the feather bed while still clinging to her.<p>

Something emitted an eldritch, otherworldly screech in the distance outdoors that made her look to the windows. His only reaction was to laugh warmly, make himself more comfortable and set her beside him with a sigh.

A smear of his blood was on her inner leg, she noticed and sat up to get nearer to the place where she had pierced his left oblique, earlier that night when he had sought to make her a meal, cautiously wiping the fissure. Seeing that he merely peered at her sluggishly, she felt that It was harmless to inspect it further. She applied gentle pressure and heard a quiet snap, accidentally splitting the plasma bonded cavity apart.

He exhaled tranquilly, completely unfazed.

It struck her as bizarre that the visible tissue was the color of ebony, marbled with maroon. Beads of tar-black ichor seeped afresh and streamed over the incline of his paunch, which she collected in her palm like rain water.

He found it to be quite enchanting when she drank some.

It had a subtle balsamic, savory flavor that was almost entirely devoid of metallic qualities.

He gave a deep, rumbling purr, touseling her steel blue hair as she drew more from his wound with her mouth. Daphne couldn't comprehend the reason why she was behaving in such a manner but she knew that she felt a bond with the Demon. That she felt untroubled in his company even though she did not like how he treated her.

"Come, sleep" He bade her and she took her place beside him once again, nestling against his chest and soon drifted off as Darkness lay awake, staring into nothingness.


	5. Midnight

The sun shone, bathing the land in it's invasive brightness and cast it's unwelcome rays over the ancient blight that was the great tree.

Dust mote laden beams poured through the re-opened windows and across the grand bedchamber until their pervasive glare succeeded in disturbing the woman's contented slumber.

When she was fully awake, Daphne somberly discovered that she was alone. The sheets had been thrown over her sometime while she slept and a bouquet of dried roses and gypsophelia had been placed at the foot of the bed, crisp and browned with age.

In the light, her surroundings appeared so much more dilapidated than the night before.

The painting above the credenza was not at all the same. In it was depicted wan, mournful and starved figures that were contorted in the throes of agony, screeching as they ascended a rocky precipice. One was holding his head and lamenting to the heavens, his lips and jaw ensanguined.

Even the ceiling had changed and where there once stood esuriant death was a different relief in which he had turned his back on the souls seeking guidance, a council of hooded, bony corpses lingered with bowed heads before him.

In behind the statuary up there was a timed mechanism that revolved when dusk or dawn fell.

Simply being in the presence of those decorations made her heart shrink. There was an air of terrible minacity about them and she felt an intense need to get out of the room.

Gathering the sheets around her body and the flowers, she got up to leave but momentarily paused to glance outside.

The murky wetlands shimmered, scattered with the rare, decaying tree and shrub. The dense, Celadon forest that she knew so well stretched a few miles to the east with the town situated past it in a large, golden field.

She couldn't help but sigh.

"You long for your home" came the demon's voice from behind her, frail and forlorn.

She turned to face him but he was nowhere to be found, or so she thought. Squinting through the blinding light, she made out a pair of Chartreuse, iridescent reflections. They blinked.

"No," Daphne answered "but I am at a loss as to what to do."

Darkness beheld her lovingly. Back-lit by the sun, her messy locks radiated cool white and a thin, feathery aura framed her shoulders. She was all he had ever wanted.

"Go. You are free."

"Why?" Taken aback, she replied incredulously and approached his silhouette in the shadows but what she saw erased any disinclination that she was experiencing by replacing it with awe and sympathy.

Darkness was had also transmuted, completely tenebrous. His skin appeared charred, parched and cracked, faintly glimmering with embedded shards of quartz. Infinitesimal crystals encrusted the hollows of his body like a druse and he wore only a cloak, thrown over his shoulder and clasped with a brooch.

But it was his newly gaunt countenance and leaner build that made her concerned. He looked tired and ill. And he did not answer her question.

"What happened to you?!"

"The sun ascended to his heavenly seat" was his simple reply. After a few moments had passed, she assumed that was all he had to say and went on. She would discover the rhyme and reason behind such things in due time.

"Why would you have me leave when just last night, I was the lover you sought? Or is it that I don't meet your standards?"

"Nay, sweet Naiad. Your benefaction was more than I could have ever asked for. I only request that you leave. Enjoy what time you have left for Yhwh is seldom merciful to his flock. The equivalent of a lustrum to me is a lifetime to your kind and I shall not steal what chance of happiness you may have in an existence so short. Find someone more deserving than I to share those fleeting moments with."

"But I do not want to leave...and so I shan't" Daphne answered with resolution and walked toward him while letting her covers fall to the floor.

He was astonished by how dauntless she was in his presence when every object of his desire before her had either been revolted, petrified, unfeeling or barely abiding but as she pressed her body to his and warmed his rocky exterior, Darkness knew that he must finally be experiencing what requited affection -perhaps even love- could feel like.

The demon swiftly enshrouded his ladylove and himself in the cloak, being overcome with emotion while clinging to her tightly.

"You will grow old while I will remain unchanged...you will die...and as I am se'irim, we cannot meet in the afterlife."

"Then we must make our happiness in the present"

Cloistered in shade, the demon and the woman shared their first kiss in affiance.

She would be his huntress, coming and going as she would please.

For him, she would pass through the seals to the winding corridors toward the summit of the tree where his grimoire was concealed. With it, he would seek the aid of his ilk and together, they would destroy the sigils that imprison him.

And Darkness would rain as prince of the night once again with his silvery-haired queen, desperately searching for a way to extend her life without risk of endangering her mortal soul.

_Contra vim mortis non crescit salvia in hortis._


End file.
